STROLLING IN THE FOREST AROUND THE MOUNTAINS

CHAPTER THREE

 STROLLING IN THE FOREST AROUND THE MOUNTAINS

It was a very sunny day. The outside was as hot as an oven. Charley and Pete had been planning all day to go outside for a work in the woods located at the nearby forest within the mountains of Kalkulta. After learning about the existence of the land of gold from their school mates, it had always been a hidden desire built from their curiosity to find the place on their own.

Charley, being the eldest son of Mr. Tolen, had nurtured the dream of finding the place one day and taking the initiative to explore it. Hoping he would find riches or gold he could bring out of the land, which he could in turn use as leverage for the financial standard of his whole family, he was seized by the obsession of locating the place.

But he was intermittently worried by the reality of the monstrous statues, poisonous serpents and paintings on the walls that lined the path to the land, couple with the idea of entering into the land and never being able to return to his family. He had longed for an opportunity of leaving the house with Pete so as to facilitate their final decision on either to enter the land or not. 

Mrs. Tolen had just finished giving her children their lunch and decided to take a quick nap with little Mary. As soon as she stepped into the bedroom, Charley called Pete secretly and told him his plan. He suggested they should take a quick walk towards the road that led to Kalkulta city and make a search of the forest around the mountainous roads if they would be able to locate the walls that led to the gold gates of the Land of Gold.

Pete hurriedly wore his sandals and joined his elder brother Charley in order to embark on the search of the road that led to the walls into the land of gold. They had been told that the walls stood on the path to the city of Kalkulta. As they stepped outside their home, Pete observed that the sunshine had reduced and the atmosphere now was cooler.

"Oh! Yes," Charley admitted as they hurried along. They were seized by the fear of being found out by either of their parents. They knew they would be in trouble if they found out, since the adventure they were about embarking upon was a great risk to their life and the joy of their parents. Pete couldn't help wondering why their father often dilated on their future prosperity with confidence.

As far as he was concerned, they were better off compared with their neighbours. Charley rebuked him, pointing out to him the low level of the family's subsistence. He made him understand how the family had been suffering since their father lost his job at the gas factory. Pete introduced a new edge to the discussion when he claimed that people often said it was those who were involved in ritual could be rich.

"You are getting it all wrong," Charley replied. "It is not only bad people that become rich; anyone can become rich if he or she works hard." By now they had traversed several paths within the forest around the mountains on the road to Kalkulta, yet had not come across the walls that led to the golden gates of the land of gold.

Pete became apprehensive and suggested going back home, more so as it was already getting dark. He was concerned about the anxiety of their parents if they didn't get back home on time.

"Mum and Dad will be jittery over our absence and mount a search for us. Jenny could as well report to them that we knew about the land of gold before Dad heard about it."

Taking into consideration Pete's apprehension and concern for their parents' worry over their absence, they thought it better to return home. As they were about taking the last curve to their house, they saw their father who was also returning from outing. Pete quickly dashed off toward him, arms spread out, shouting, "Papa, Papa.'' 

Mr. Tolen dropped the grocery bags he had been holding and spread out his hands to receive Pete. He swept him off the ground and began to fondle him mid-air. Pete was excited. He was excited that they returned from their escapade unhurt and the secrecy that attended it. As they all walked the narrow path into the door, Jenny ran out to meet their father amid shouting "Papa, Papa," as did Pete previously. Mr. Tolen dropped Pete and picked her up and gave her light pecks on her chick. He moved towards the kitchen where Mrs. Tolen was busy making supper for the whole family.

"Welcome," said Mrs. Tolen to her husband at the same time stirring the soup steaming in the pot on the cooking stove. "How was your day? Did you succeed with the interview?" She looked her husband's face critically in anticipation as she poured out the questions on him. In response to her barrage of questions, Mr. Tolen walked up to his wife, he gave her a hug and peck on the cheek and paused for a moment before he broke the good news to the whole family.

"Yes, oh yes…" he resounded. "They gave me the job and I will start tomorrow. There was a loud shout of joy in the whole house, as his children jumped and hugged their father. Even little Mary was so much a part of the excitement, that she let out meaningless babblings peculiar to babies, kicking her legs and arms.

"Bring the grocery bags over here, Charley," said his father. He had bought so many items for the family. Enraptured by the items, the children had forgotten about the food their mother was cooking and settled for them. The whole family momentarily lapsed into celebrative moods. After the euphoria that greeted Mr. Tolen new job had died down, Mrs. Tolen asked Charley where he had been with his younger brother Pete.

The next day after Mr. Tolen had left for his new job and their mother was busy in the kitchen, Charley had called Pete and Jenny and told them to join him to find the Land of Gold. Pete and Jenny quickly objected to the suggestion. But Charley insisted, saying that could be an opportunity for them to be rich. He argued that the people who got missing in the land of gold were mostly bad.

 "And you know we are not bad, we only need the gold so we could help Mom and Papa from their current financial difficulties. It could be an opportunity for us to be the first people to ever enter the land of gold and come out alive. Think about this, everywhere in Zinatano would hear about us as the three heroes who survived the ordeals in the land of gold and came out alive with so much gold. All our friends in school would have a special respect and admiration for us."

Pete looked at Jenny and said to Charley, "but we are just kids, brother!"

"Yes, that would be to our advantage in the land of gold. Remember we are innocent and our innocence would serve as a factor to stand before the monsters and venomous serpents Papa and our friends talked about unhurt."

"Let's get going before Mom comes out of the kitchen," said Jenny in a low tone.

"Yes," Charley added. "Pete, let us just do that so we could return before Papa gets back from work." Just as they were about stepping out to the door, little Mary woke up with a loud cry from the bedroom. Mrs. Tolen rushed out of the kitchen to attend to little Mary. Charley, Pete and Jenny stood in surprise staring quietly at each other.

"We are lucky," said Pete. "Mom could have caught us leaving the house and we would have to be caged never to go outside the four walls of the house if they ever know we intend going in search of the land of gold."

Quietly Pete told Charley, "We would plan this for another day." Meanwhile, we have to keep this secret from everyone till the day we are opportune to go on our search again. Is that alright?"

"Yes," Pete and Jenny answered in unison. Charley then added they would need to find out more from people who knew about the land of gold.

"And we will make appropriate arrangements for our search when the right time comes. For now we shouldn't talk about this unless where we are alone and safe from those walls that have ears!" Charley concluded.